Saturday, February 28, 2009

Ok, kitties of the blogosphere, we need your opinions on this. Please. Our former alpha cat, Lydia, died last October, and since then Rori took over as alpha cat. No problems there; she's an awesome alpha cat and looks out for everyone, taking care of everyone and making sure they're ok.

Now, tonight we had the second rolling cat fight with a "visitor". Outdoor Fluffy Buddy came in, thinking maybe Starla was inside. Once he realized she wasn't in, he was fine exploring the food bowl and exchanging sniffs with Tabby and Smokey. I didn't shut the door because I didn't want him to feel trapped. He's one of the ferals, and this is his first time in a house since he was a kitten (when he was abused or abandoned).

He decided to walk into the living room from the kitchen, and Rori followed him. He went into the hallway, and looked like he was going to check out the litterbox (headed into the bathroom, where we keep it). That's when Rori attacked. Hissing, screaming, rolling cat fight. Fluffy Buddy escaped out the door, and then it was Rori, Tabby, and Carbon rolling around fighting. Rori and Tabby almost made it out the door, but I closed it just in time!

Ever since Rori's spay mid-January, she's been growling at outside sounds, and even sometimes at my husband. It's like her personality was swapped with another kitty's! And, yes, we're sure it's really her.

Any suggestions? Any ideas why this is happening or what we can do about it?Thanks in advance!

Now that Little Bit's safely out of the "shop" next door, I can lie in the window watching the workmen again. Yes, that's my tail sticking out. I always have my tail or some of my fur sticking out of the shade. Mommy and Daddy laugh, but it's comfortable!

The rules are:1. Open a document or file folder.2. Click on the fifth folder.3. Click on the fifth photo.4. Post the photo and describe it.5. Tag five other bloggers for the Meme.

This is Mommy's Scandinavian dance group that she teaches. Mommy is the lady on the left. This was taken in 2006, and all of the kids that are pictured have now graduated. She has little kids in the group now. The costumes they are wearing are Norwegian bunader (Norwegian national costumes).

Both Mom and Dad always say that cuddling with me makes them feel better. Did you know that many people think cats are telepathic? We believe it.

I walked in Mom's dreams while she was sleeping yesterday. She was having very bad nightmares, a sequential nightmare, then all of a sudden it started getting better. She eventually woke up, and I was snuggled right at her face, staring at her. Most of the time I curl up by her feet, but I was right there next to her, telling her it was ok. She petted me and told me thank you, then was able to sleep pleasantly.

My sister Lydia used to do the same thing. Mom would often wake up with Lydia staring at her, and she'd notice her in the actual dream too, making things better.

We are very thankful that we have such a good and loving home. The two kittens pictured both came from dicey circumstances (Rori was a feral kitten and Spooky was abandoned). Tabby (the dressed-up adult cat) treated them like her own from day 1. Rori was adopted by us, and Spooky was adopted out to a good home. These pictures were taken in November 2007.

Friday, February 27, 2009

No sign of Shadow this week. Everyone else has come, though. No raccoon either.

The big adventure this week was Little Bit's entrapment in the "shop" next door. You can read about that in the post she wrote after she was freed.

Also, Starla's in heat and Fluffy Buddy's "interested". Starla gets spayed on March 4th, so we're hoping it won't be a spay-abort (the lady in the green house would rather it not be, because she believes in not killing kitten fetuses). If there are signs by then that Starla's pregnant, we won't do the spay until after she's delivered. If there are no signs she's pregnant, we'll go through with the spay.

This Foodie Friday recipe is for kitty treats. My cats love them! We found this recipe in an e-book we purchased. You want to make sure to only give this as an occasional treat, because tuna has higher levels of mercury in it than other fish. Be sure to get only the tuna packed in water, as oil is bad for the cats.

Tuna Pops

Drain liquid from tuna packed in spring water. Freezeliquid in small ice cube trays (cocktail ice cube trayswork nicely, as well as little square pill boxes availableat most drug stores - only fill these half full). Give nomore than 2 cubes at 1 time as a treat. Reuse your canof drained tuna by placing in it an airtight containerand covering with filtered water overnight for a secondbatch of tuna-pop water.

For our cat friends, Skylar is hosting a sit-down roleplay "dinner" every Saturday at his Catster restaurant. You don't need to be a Catster member to participate; just join with your e-mail address. It's from 4:30 pm to 6:00 pm Pacific time.

Thursday, February 26, 2009

Wow! I am NEVER doing THAT again! There were people working on a house down the street, putting new siding on it, and I thought I'd go over and say hi, maybe get a few of them to pet me and pay attention to me. They had the door to a big building open, so I followed them in. THEY LOCKED ME INSIDE and left! I guess they didn't see little me walk in behind them. I was in there for two days BY MYSELF! I screamed and screamed, but no one came and got me. I was very scared, and I climbed all over and got into things trying to find a way out. I had thought it was a house, but no house would be that dark or not have people in it!

Then, finally, I heard a voice that I recognized. It was the man from the green house, the one where my sister now lives as a foster kitten. I got excited and screamed very loudly. He and another man opened the door and called to me. I yelled back. The man that I knew meowed back to me, so we talked for a few minutes. I finally stepped out where he could see me. He called me by name, so I came over to him, and he scooped me up and carried me into his yard and house. I purred and purred! They had been hearing me scream, but the person who owned the "shop" (huge shed/garage) where I was trapped hadn't heard me. So the man had gone over to see if he could open the door and find whoever it was who was trapped. And they found ME and got me OUT OF THERE!

I went into the green house and told my sister Smokey about my adventure, then spent a long time eating. I was STARVED! I screamed for a bit, but the lady and the man petted me and talked to me, telling me that I was ok now. Then they let me back out into the yard. I was last seen running back home, probably to tell my momma all about my adventure too.

I AM going to be a model for Dove Lewis Animal Hospital's Boutiques Unleashed! It's going to be March 13th, at the Wonder Ballroom in Portland, OR. Most of the other models are going to be dogs, but there will be one other cat and a llama (who is part of their animal-assisted therapy group). This is my first time being an "official" model for someone other than Mommy!

I am going to walk the runway with one of the veterinarians from Dove Lewis, so Mommy is going to arrange a meeting for us beforehand. I also am going to go to the boutique they are assigning me to (don't know which one yet) for a fitting.

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Skylar here. Mom's typing this for me, because I'm busy getting TREATS! Mom refilled the treat ball, and the others each got a turn. When they all decided they were done, I nosed it and a treat came out. So I've been nosing it and pawing it, getting all MY TREATS. Yummy!

Sunday, February 22, 2009

Yesterday, I really, REALLY wanted to snuggle with Dad! I hopped up on the couch, got right in his face, and screamed at him to tell him I was there. I then hopped onto his side, hopped down, then back up, making sure he knew I was really there with him. Then I lay down on his side just like my sis Lydia used to and took a nap with him.

Mom and Dad are trying to decide if my increased snuggling is a sign that I'm feeling worse. I'm starting to act the same way my sis did before we knew she was dying. They know I probably won't last out the year, but I'm still able to get around the house and do my normal routine (eating, drinking, litter box, up on the bed and on the couch). I have fluids almost every day now, and love getting them still. So, all in all, I'm doing ok for my 9 years!

Friday, February 20, 2009

It's been an exciting day today! For the last few days, there have been people working on the house next door, right in front of our living room window! I sat in the window all day today and watched them. They're putting new siding on the house and making all sorts of noise, with ladders and pails and other interesting things around. I hop down to eat, drink, and use the litter box, but then it's right back up into the window to watch again!

Just the girlcats this time, and one boy cat. Starla, Boo-Boo Kitty, Little Bit, and Shadow. No boy cats except for SpongeBob, and no raccoon. The lady saw the black tom cat a few houses down, sitting in their driveway, but he wasn't seen on the back porch.

Things have been pretty quiet around here this week. Starla decided to go up on the roof to catch squirrels, and when she saw the man she went to the edge of the roof and meowed like she wanted him to come up and get her down. He knows she can get down by herself, though, so he just talked with her for a bit then went inside. Later on, he saw she was on the porch so he picked her up and brought her inside for a bit to socialize with the inside cats.

Two weeks ago, we told you about our favorite chair. This week, I want to share one of our favorite nap places. It's a stool that Mommy got from her Avon catalog as a demo (product #101699 "decorative stool"). It's supposed to be a gardening stool, and supposedly easy to snap together and apart. Well, Daddy had to put it together because it has a suspension bar (the one on the bottom with the holes in it) that snaps together. But once it was up, we quickly adopted it for snoozing! It's soooo comfortable! Mommy's seen some at Bi-Mart that are green canvas, but we love the bright floral print canvas of ours better. And, as you can see, it's just the right size.

Thursday, February 19, 2009

Yesterday, Mommy went to the doctor to find out the results of her tests. All her blood tests came back normal, so that's really good. The results from her physical were a different story. The doctor diagnosed her with fibromyalgia. Basically this means she has a lot of pain all over her body. She even got bruises just from the slight pressure during the physical.

When she got back home, she immediately lay down in bed again, and we all climbed up to snuggle with her. Rori and Smokey brought her their toys to throw, and we all got petted. Then she fell asleep with all of us snuggling. When she woke up, she had been "gifted" with three sparkle balls.

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

I don't know if you've read it or not, but Skeezix has a petition on the blog he and his mom do for Catster: The Cat's Meow. There's a resident therapy cat at a nursing home in Ohio who is facing eviction by the new administrators of the home. The cat has been confined to the room of the resident he "adopted", and was being allowed to stay there, but the administrators have since changed their mind and are going to evict him. The resident's doctor even wrote a note saying that this would be very detrimental to the resident's emotional health, and they're ignoring it!

As a fellow therapy cat, I am outraged at this! Therapy animals are pets and don't have any government-sanctioned rights like service animals, but these people should know enough about the power of purr to let Snoopy stay!

Monday, February 16, 2009

"LOVE YA "award winner... These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers. Deliver this award to eight bloggers who must choose eight more and include this cleverly-written text into the body of their award.

Today's Monday Movie is the neighbor kitty SpongeBob inside our house playing with a catnip teabag from Jake & Micah's. We found them on the Catster Marketplace, which we're part of too. The CM is a great place to shop, because everything's cat-related: either for cats or has cats on it. This toy is one of our favorites, and you can see it's his favorite toy as well!

Saturday, February 14, 2009

I went on a special Valentine's Day stroll today. Mommy and I left the house and said hi to SpongeBob, who was on the front porch. He sniffed me in the stroller and then rolled over for tummy rubs on the sidewalk. Mommy took me on the bus to Petco and had my picture taken. After about 10 different tries, most of which I was trying to get the cameraman to pet me instead of taking my picture, we finally got one that worked.

Then, I walked around the whole store, spending most of my time in the dog food aisle. A lady kept following us, asking all kinds of questions about me and my leash-walking and training. She also pet me quite a bit, and then her daughter pet me also. She joked around with Mommy that I must be some kind of a new breed of animal, a "cat-dog" or "dog-cat"! Here's a video of me walking around the store.

When it was time to go, I growled at Mommy because I wanted to stay. I love being out so much that I never want to leave when it's time! She said we had to go, and put me back in the carrier. We went to the store where we get my outfits, and they had the St. Patrick's clothes already, so we got a dress for me. Mommy's going to go back later today to bring them one of my Valentine's cards; she forgot to bring it with us.

We took the bus back home. Here's a picture of the bus at the mall.

When we got back to the house, our neighbors were just leaving, so I hopped out of the stroller to say hi to them. Then they started their truck and drove away. I got really scared and jumped and tried to run, but Mommy had my leash so I didn't get far. I crouched down and looked at the truck going away, swishing my tail. Then I walked up to the house and patiently waited for Mommy to open the door, and in I went.

Friday, February 13, 2009

Oh, boy! Our whole blog could qualify for this one! This is Mommy with our now-angel-kitty Sara. Sara Kitty lived to be 17 or 18 years old, and was put to sleep in January (old age and dementia). Our family adopted her for the last year of her life, and she was loved and cared for until the end. You can read more about her time with us on her Catster page.

Thursday, February 12, 2009

For this week's Thursday Thirteen, we'd like to present 13 things that happened yesterday at our house (photos are Starla, SpongeBob, and the candles):

Mommy went to the doctor's twice. She's getting tested for things that may have caused iritis (inflammation inside her eye). She's ok, though, and over the iritis, but we'll know more when the lab results come back. It's probably just a random thing, but they want to make sure.

Daddy's dad went home from the hospital. He had a urinary tract infection and a staph infection for a week, but the antibiotics worked well enough that now he's able to be at home again.

Starla came inside to visit.

Rori hissed at Daddy when he went to lie down in the bed, because it meant she had to move.

Smokey treated Mommy like a big squeaky toy, chewing on her hair, climbing up her jeans to get to her belt while she was getting dressed, jumping on her, tracking her fingers for pouncing, and taking the shoelaces away while she was putting on her shoes.

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

The giant kitty SpongeBob came in this evening, and I went ballistic! I did NOT want him in MY HOUSE! I puffed up, hissed, and slunk all over. He played for a while, then went around saying hi to everyone. When he came toward me, I hid under the couch. He saw me, and walked over by me to say hi. I hissed, so he walked away. I followed him, slinking behind him, with Tabby following me. SpongeBob walked into the office room, with us following right behind him, then tried to turn around. I was all puffy still, and I lashed out at him. He swiped back and hissed, then I lit into him. When Mommy clapped, he ran away but I turned on Tabby and she and I rolled in a furry, hissing fight into the living room. SpongeBob by this time had run up to the window escaping me, then over by the door. Skylar got scared because SpongeBob ran right by him, and Daddy got scratched on the arm. Mommy and Daddy clapped a lot to try to separate me from Tabby, and we separated after a few tries (the first few times we separated, I attacked her right off again). Then I ran by Smokey and swiped at her, while Tabby hissed and growled. Smokey went into fight mode and lashed out, then ran onto the top of the dishwasher.

Mommy let SpongeBob out the door, then put me into the bedroom. Then she cleaned up in the office, because SpongeBob peed in there when I attacked him. He didn't spray; it was obviously because he was scared, not because of territory. He was just so scared he wet.

Everyone's ok physically, just very scaredy at the moment. Mommy let me out, and I slunk around for a bit, but now I'm almost walking again. Everyone's investigated the spot in the office. Carbon came out from under the bed, and Skylar hopped back up with Daddy. I haven't yet apologized to the others, so they are still avoiding me, and Smokey tried to swipe at me. Tabby wanted to sniff me, and I turned like I was going to smack her again, but I didn't.

Update: I went up to Mommy and apologized. Then I went over to Smokey and apologized to her by sniffing her tail. Then I made the rounds to the others and sniffed them too, apologizing to them.

Boy, did I have fun! Smokey loves playing with balls, but sometimes it gets tiring just to watch her. Sometimes I join in, but she always hogs the toys when she wants to play. I found a way to defeat her, though! She was playing with a blue puffy ball, and Mommy threw it for her. Well, it landed in a corner right next to our "Bizzy Kitty" puzzle. I ran over to get it, picked it up in my mouth, and promptly put it in the puzzle box! Then, Smokey had to try to get it out of there before she could actually play with it. I sat on top of the box, watching her, and it was a full five minutes before she managed to get it out. Too fun! I kept looking over at Mommy, and she swears I was laughing!

Sunday, February 8, 2009

We had so much fun yesterday with a toy that we haven't played with in ages! Well, at least for a month or so. It's our beach playmat, and it's too big to have out all the time, so Mommy puts it away. Sometimes one of us will go sit on it when it's put away on the shelf, and it makes a good nap spot. Mommy got it out yesterday for us to really play with, so here is a video of us with it! Well, of Rori and Smokey with it, anyway. The older ones just watched.

Guess what??!!!???!!!! That's right, kitties of the blogosphere! We found Bizzy! And.........it's not a kitty, it's a TOY! No wonder our mommies and daddies like it. We tried it out, too, and it is fun, but it got boring after a while. Why do the beans play with it a lot longer than we do? Don't they get bored with it too?

Skylar's best human friend is his "Mommy Erin". She lived with us for almost a year, and comes over to visit often still. He hadn't seen her for a few months because of the holidays and because her 1-year-old son threw the cell phone in the tub and she lost our number (!), but the second he heard her voice he perked right up! They spent some time snuggling and posed for photos with both Mommy's camera and Erin's camera.

Around the Cat Blogosphere, we'd like to recognize our new friends Milo & Alfie over at The Cat's Meow! They have the same office chair we do, and we mentioned them in our Fashion Friday post about it.

Outdoor Fluffy Buddy, Big-headed black tom kitty, orange-headed kitty, Boo-Boo, Little Bit, the raccoon, Starla, SpongeBob, Shadow, and the orange cat from down the street. Everyone came this week again, even the raccoon.

No females are in heat anymore, so the yowling has gone away for the moment. Starla and Smokey will be spayed on March 4th, and we have a vet for the big-headed black tom kitty to be neutered as well (but not a date set yet). All their "fixes" will be done through the Tom & Mom Special. Many, many thanks to organizations like these who provide low-cost spaying and neutering!

A to Z Blogging Challenge!

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About Us

One of our internet friends on HubPages gave us our nickname of "PDX pride". Mommy's "name" on there is KT pdx (her initials plus the airport code for Portland, Oregon, the closest airport to where we live). So, when we started hijacking her account to write hubs sometimes, someone there dubbed us the PDX pride, as in a pride of lions, because there's so many of us. The name stuck, and we think it definitely fits!